Chapter 5: Here's looking at you kit.
Catsablanca, the gateway to freedom for refugees of the Second World War, a city of adventures and a molten pot of different cultures mixed into each other. Though the storm and thunder of the war has become nothing more than distant memories of the past, the city still bears the scar of a silent struggle for freedom for its inhabitants in the trying years of the War. Morning in Catsablanca is as romantic as its evening as the coastal settlement bask in the warm almost Mediterranean atmosphere with its picturesque seaside area once built by fleeing Romans, inherited by the Moors and further refined by the Furrench.
In the air, Earl's PBY was flying through the clouds and approaching the city from the waterfront, from his cockpit, he can see the seaside town built in stacked layers against the hillside with mudbrick buildings mixed in with white marble limestone structure of the Furrench. "How's the view of the city Earl?" Angie asked from the midsection of the Black Cat seaplane as they were flying over Catsablanca's seaside, they came flew over a yacht with a lynx basking in the sun on the top of the ship.
Earl looked out of the cockpit and began laughing in an impressed manner. "Say this is the place to fall in love, and get married." Earl said looking at the eutopic like sight of the city. He recalled approaching many runways and cities before in the past. Each in their own special way. Some places giving a good challenge to his piloting skills by pouring fog into the air and blocking the runway, and other times just the sight of a flat field and paved runway welcoming his plane into his destination. "Boy though this does take the cake. Maybe if all goes as well I'll let you and Logan have a dance in the clubs. Let old uncle Earl request a song." Earl said with a kind smile.
It didn't take Earl long to see that Catsablanca in fact has a runway up and its attached airfield. The runway was adequately modern with concrete paveway and a tarnac to direct international airlines in and out of the airport. "Uh flight Hotel 654, we have a clear runway for you at Runway No.5. Please taxi your way cautiously there over." Said the ATC on the tarmac over Earl's radio as he was approaching the place. Earl could see that the aforementioned Runway was in fact clear of airliners and other obstacles that might obstruct his landing. Not only that but there was a hangar waiting to be used by incoming private aircraft.
Earl picked up his radio, and nodded giving a thumbs up to Angie. "Yeah, copy that control. I read you loud and clear. Hang tight." Earl said as he put his radio back down on the clip holder. He then pushed the plane dowards in a gentle descend. The tires of the plane touched the black tarmac, and created a small ploom of white smoke from the tire friction. After the plane decelerated enough Earl drove the plane over to the designated hangar. "You see Angie this prime service I can negotiate for. A clear runway, mostly empty airport, nice runway, and a nice hangar empty all for this bird." Earl said with a chuckle.
"You sure know how to impress, Earl. Maybe you can finally win a lady or something." Said Angie as she picked up her baggage from the plane's racks and stepped off the plane's door into the sunny Catsablanca, she looked around the city and saw the amazingly diverse town has the vibrant classic feel that seems timeless to all. The airport may give off a sense of modernity, but it is the city's architect and diverse demographic that takes the cake for her. "Look at this town Logan, it's like in the movie already." Angie exclaimed while looking at the town before her eyes, her excitement rose and her heart was stolen by the incredibly romantic seaside settlement.
Logan with his own luggage he pulled behind himself nodded a bit and felt a bit more warm looking at the reflective water of the seaside. He grinned a bit and leaned over to Angie resting his head on her's. "Let's just hope this one is as nice as it is now." Logan said.
Earl then got out of the plane himself carrying a green bag with his right hand. He seemed to fit in more though with his clothes matching the vacation setting with his usual floral button shirt. He also had a pair of aviators on his face blocking some of the sun. "Hey you two have fun. I gotta pay the parking bill in person. Not exactly first world stuff, but I can live with it." Earls said as he moved over to the airport's terminal room. It was much smaller than commercial passenger airports, but it still looked modern enough for his tastes.
"We will Earl. I already got the address for our contact in town. We'll meet him at the Cafe Americlaw." Said Angie as she handed a pamphlet to Earl, it was a neon violet pamphlet with a palm tree hanging over a stylized image of an all Americlaw nightclub in town, one with a fancy driveway for the guests and taxi cabs. The architect style and decoration of the front seems to scream Greatest Generation Nostalgia with its Art Deco noir font. "We'll meet you there Earl, see you soon. If you need help we'll give a call to tell you where it is." Said Angie as she and Logan began to make their way out of the airport. They immediately called a cab to them and begin their ride towards the establishment, passing through the markets and intricate narrow streets of Catsablanca.
Logan as the cab ride ensued watched the streets pass by, and felt a bit more crowded by everything he was seeing. The city itself seems to be a nightmare for anyone suffering from claustrophobia, but the architecture was catching his eyes. He placed a hand on Angie's and chuckled. "Don't suppose you know a bit about the history of why this place looks like the movies uncle Earl showed me as a kid." Logan said feeling captivated by the sights.
"Sure I do. But I might bore you with it." She said teasingly while they pass through the Moorish quarter of the city then into the through the Latin quarter of town that they were supposed to inspect. Soon enough, they arrived at the Cafe Americlaw of town, it was a picturesque location since it was built on top of a hillside, overlooking the beach with the lighthouse in the distance, shining its light around at night to add to the almost perfect romantic feel of the city. "Three Dirham miss." Said the cab driver and Angie handed him the money, paying the exact price before exiting. "First it was the native Moors, then the Romans came and build the town further, then the natives were back at it after the Romans left. Then came the Spanish colonists and eventually French occupation." Said Angie as she unpacks the luggage from the vehicle's trunk and went inside with Logan. They found the cafe was still somewhat empty in the day with most patrons were either mammals of the middle class or occasional upper class tourists hanging around the place for a drink or two. "Here we are, I wonder where the owner is." She wonders out loud, looking around, surveying the sight of the bar, she saw a particularly stand out figure, a cougar dressed in white suits with a rose in his right pocket and black bow tie on his neck. The cougar was also wearing a pair of dark trousers that seems to jump right out of the 1940s. "Ah...I think I've found him there." She pointed Logan towards the cougar.
Logan looked over and saw the out of touch cougar. Logan wasn't much for fashion, and never paid too much attention to what he even looked like in public besides keeping a disguise on at all times. And yet he could tell the cougar had a more noir, and classy type style. "Yikes that guy keeps his looks i check. His clothes looks really out of touch, and still new? Must pay a lot to keep that stuff looking sharp. I'll go talk to him." Logan said walkin away from Angie. He slowly approached the cougar not having to move through a crowd. Logan cleared his throat to get the cougar's attention. "Excuse me. You the owner here sir?" Logan asked.
"That I am." The cougar replied in a terse manner as he shook Logan's paw. His voice was a deep, raspy and sounding like he came from Brooklyn during the 30s. "The name's Whiskerton, Pauly Whiskerton. I run this here nightclub for 10 years now. I was told by a certain wealthy contact that I'll be hosting you guys here for a few days." He said looking at both Angie and Logan, noticing the outfits they were wearing, the two look like they were on a vacation and the attire was rather unassuming to say the least.
"Well...yeah we'll be staying here in your establishment for a couple of days while we travel into the Latin Quarter for some sightseeing." Angie stated while keeping her paw on her luggage while shaking his paw with her free one.
"Just there? You would be missing out on a lot of things in town." He asked sarcastically, sounding like he wasn't even interested in the matter that they were working on. He then took a sip from his glass of Champagne.
"Uh well our trip is rather personal. But let's just say we stick to our end of the bargain and you stick to yours. Deal?" She asked politely to him, though sounding somewhat cocky from her tone.
He huffed out seeing her charisma and sense of business. "Charming. I ain't sticking my neck out for anyone." Said the cougar and he offered them glasses of champagne. "Here's looking at you kids." Said the cougar.
Logan raised a brow to this, and sighed out. He got his luggage, and looked around the club. He smiled slightly, and looked back to Whiskerton. "Well you do keep up a tidy place. Can't imagine the amount you gotta pay for a decent maid service. Or janitors. Do you have our room key by any chance?" Logan asked.
"As a matter of fact, I do." Whiskerton reaches his paw into his pocket and pulled up a key for Logan and Angie's room. It has an Eye of Horus knick knack attached to it. The key itself has a plastic matte on it with a shiny gloss that caught Logan's eyes. "Take this and go on the second floor, there's a room with a balcony looking out at sea. I think you two would enjoy it." Said the cougar with a faint smile, he seems cynical and detached from social conversations and his tone seems to suggest that he wants to get it over with.
Logan grumbled a bit, and took the key. Part of him was relieved that Whiskerton was using the Ewegyptian style he had come to trust more. However, Whiskerton's attitude got Logan to give him a questionable glare. "Right… Well take care of yourself Whiskerton. Come on Angie. I want to see our view." Logan said carrying his luggage to the stairs. Despite packing a lot Logan seems to have not much of an issue carrying the heavy bag. Although when he was out of hearing range of Whiskerton he looked over to Angie and huffed out. "Man something really bit that guy hard. He's not much to talk to." Logan stated.
"Tell me about it, from the looks of him he sounds like he has been with the world's losing teams whenever a flashpoint occured." Said Angie as she went to the second floor with Logan, their room was labeled with a do not disturb sign on the door knob. "At least he isn't half bad with his guests." Angie commented as she opens the door into the room, they found an almost hotel like luxurious accommodation waiting for them. The room has a master size bed with a wooden floor sparkling from the extensive cleaning it underwent, not only that but the place also seems to have a bathroom to the left of the room while to the right, there was the aforementioned balcony looking out at sea. "Nice place, he wasn't kidding about his accommodation, despite the cynical exterior." She exclaims as she walks out to the balcony and look at the Atlantic Ocean and its waves washing ashore.
Logan set his baggage in the corner of the room, and sighed out. Angie heard him laughing though as he looked around the room. He made a loud whistle and grinned as he watched the room. He seemed to be thoroughly impressed with the condition of the room, and was ecstatic he was getting treated almost like royalty. "Now this is better! Look at this place. Earl is going to flip when he sees this place since he, uh, lives in a hillside house already... " Logan recalled his uncle living pretty well for himself after taking in revenue for his engineering job. It seemed the blueprints Earl had made in the past got him to a healthy economic level, and allowed him a nice house on the hills of Zootopia that was also elevated on supports. Logan huffed. "Actually I think this is the best place for him to be more at home." Logan joed as he went out to the balcony to stand with Angie. He wrapped an arm around her and hugged her in close. "Its nice isn't it?" Logan asked gently.
"Hell yeah it is, I think I better call Earl to let him know that we got our room now." She sat down on the bed next to Logan, while she was still looking out at the open ocean and her paw was dialling the her CarrotPhone, Logan was given a good look of her back and behind. She waited for the beeping sound to click, when Earl picked up his phone, she immediately call him to inform of their accommodation in town. "Hey Earl, Logan and I found the Cafe Americlaw. It's on a hill to the West of the beach. The owner here had a hotel room for us and Anubis said that we wouldn't get 5 star hotel services." She jokingly said to Earl while swooning over the beach of Catsablanca.
Earl on the phone sighed out. "Well I wasn't expecting old bones there to have the best contacts in the world. Right I'll be right with you. You kids don't go to crazy now." Earl said jokingly s he hung up. Logan however moved onto the bed with Angie, and laughed. "Not sure what Anubis considers 5 stars since I can't imagine what could be better than this. Look at that view." Logan said as he looked over to the window. He then smirked and looked back to Angie with a sly smile. "Not as good as this view though."
"Naughty boy." She chided him playfully before opening her luggage and go over what they were supposed to do while in Catsablanca. She opens a map of the city's districts and quarters, along with the book she took from the archive next to the map and go over the details on the city's layout. She flipped through the pages of Latin writing until she found some lines written in Latin regarding the Order of the Serpent.
"The members of the Order went to Tingis, they set up shop inside the old Latin quarter of the city once populated by fellow Romans. But today, they're not so fortunate, as fate would have it, the city's officials began a crack down on the Legionnaires in the city and confine them to the Latin quarter. They were forced to disarm themselves and surrender their weapons. Cut off from the reaches of their masters, they confided with each other on a place to hide their treasure, the scripture that will lead one to Midas's tomb. The Militarius Laticlavius was the one who knows about the Scripture and is now six feet under before he even spills a bean. I might have to dig his grave up."
She translated the lines and began to understand something in Catsablanca may not be as innocent as it seems, they will now have to hunt down a grave and potentially rob it, unless the grave had been robbed before. "I think the author was a member of the Order, but the writing seems to suggest he has an agenda of his own." She commented while going over the book's various pages and information regarding the tomb of the Militarius Laticlavius in Catsablanca. Meanwhile, downstairs, Earl has arrived at the Cafe and saw the luxurious old timey interior of the place.
Earl looked around the interior of the cafe and grinned. Despite him having been on many other trips, and being financially sound it seemed to be each new place was a sight to behold to him. He walked in further impressed by how well the old time art deco style had been kept still throughout the years. "Jeez. This place looks like it was built yesterday. And I thought Zoo York, and The Miami Beach Architecture District were classy. Where's a fedora and trench coat? I already got the cigars." Earl said joking with himself. He of course walked over to the receptionist area. He held a finger in the air, and smiled. "Excuse me. You know where a guy could get to know who runs this joint? I'm looking for a white wolf and a grey wolf. The grey one looks kinda like me, but more muscle, less age. No beard, and has white fur. They're kinda sweet together. You know where i could find em?" Earl asked.
"Sure, the cougar in white suits over there is da boss. He just talked to those guests of his." The otter receptionist said, pointing Earl at the sight of Whiskerton going over his checkbook of the week and other related information on the financial balance of the cafe and nightclub. The air around him was thick with cigar smoke, in fact Earl can see an already lit cigar inside an ashtray next to Whiskerton while the cougar let the world around him drift away into a haze, his mind seems to be drifting somewhere else despite the sight of him holding a checkbook in his right paw.
Earl smelled the air and made a hearty laugh. "Well this place is heaven. Bad habit my ass if it can get you this classy." Earl joked. He waltz up to Whiskerton, and sat down at the bar. He cleared his own throat out making sure to give his best first impression despite his fur being a mess normally. He pointed Whiskerton's cigar and smiled. "So what does a guy like you smoke? Montecristo or Macanudo?" Earl quipped. He seemed to next be in a foul mood though and looked over the various liquors on the shelf. To his pleasant surprise most of them were foreign.
"To be frank, I only smoke what drags me away from this damn world." Whiskerton replies still keeping his eyes on the balance of his expenses. He closed the checkbook shortly thereafter and put it away from Earl's sight. "I'm not incline to disclose financial situation with anyone. Considering how much any mammals who knows the market want a piece of this real estate property." He grumbled before blowing his cigar smoke into the ceiling of the bar. "Those two are upstairs, second floor, the room with a balcony that looks out towards the beach and the Atlantic Ocean." He said in a dull tongue, it would surprise absolutely no one since the owner of the bar himself wasn't very social towards anyone to begin with, he never even drink in his own table.
Earl moved back slightly, and felt his own smile fade away from his face. He looked around confused after seeing Whiskerton as a more glum and moody individual. Earl was expecting more charisma from the cougar just looking at his old time appearance. Earl stood up though, and chuckled again after a thought had entered his head about Logan and Angie. "Oh God a beach side view with the ocean? Oh boy I better go talk to them in case they are getting busy." Earl joked. He moved away from Whiskerton, and gave the cougar a thumbs up. "Well thanks anyways pal." Earl said as he moved up the stairs of the club. He eventually found the room the two were staying, and gave a gentle tap. "Housekeeping. Housekeeping need fluffed out pillow?" Earl said in a high pitched Spanish accent.
Angie shuddered in her room, she nearly dropped her book in surprise at this as she came close to the door to open it, not knowing who to expect. "Housekeeping? This early, now that's a surprise." She mumbled, when she opened the door and was genuinely surprised to see that it was Earl. "Earl you made it!" She excitedly hugged Earl in and patted his back before welcoming him into the room with her. "Logan and I just settled in and we got our stuff unpacked gotta say this place is just top notch for 'Not a Hotel' accommodation." She commented before holding the book and looking at the map again with Logan. "At least we know where to start looking now, there is an old Roman fort outside of the city, here." She pointed her finger to a stone walled fort located outside of the city limit, the place was marked with an upside down cross, a hallmark of the Roman military encampment. The the upper portion belongs to the servicemen, the bottom portion and center of the cross belongs to the officers and their bodyguards.
Earl examined the map closer, and scratched his chin. He examined each of the designated cross marks noting where each of the units were place in the past. He of course tracked onto the higher ranking members that were placed inside of the fort and pondered. "Ah so we are on a grave rob mission now. I'd wager the high officers have what we are looking for. Maybe a little something extra like denarius coins." Earl joked.
Logan however shook his head out. "I don't know. Maybe they knew someone was thinking that the high ranks would have the important stuff. So to fool people they would place it around the low levels. Unless that's obvious as well." Logan then looked back at the map and looked for something else. "Now just how do we break into this place?" Logan asked.
"That's easy, the place is a tourist destination by now, so no worries about gaining access, let's worry about deduction once inside first." Said Angie as she draws a red marker X on the fort to mark the spot that they were supposed to go. "Let's hit it then. Should be able to dig up something worth the trouble." She said before proceeding to check the ammo of her pistols and put them inside her holsters, with that in mind, she then picked up the book and map as references and guide book for the journey. In her backpack, she hauls some medical and survival kits to help her bandage herself and treat wounds in case if they get into trouble.
Logan himself only had to do the task of making sure his operating system and body were in working order with a self checker. He was still fully charged since he hasn't been using the more consuming robot body, and he had been eating. His liquid metal was in working order and his laser claws and rail guns were all up to par. He still kept his form, but looked over at his uncle who was carrying an almost chrome colored Smith and Weasel Model 629 revolver. THe gun made Logan's pistol and Angie's gun look small being a massive .44 caliber. He seemed to be checking the functionality, and how many bullets he had still. "Haven't used this baby in a while. Let's see if we get into trouble." Earl said.
"Alright then, let's go." Said Angie as she exited the room with Earl and Logan, they hung the "Cleaning" board on the doorknob and left the club, they took a ride by the local Zuber cab towards the fort sitting on a hilltop, guarding the road into Catsablanca. The place was rather rocky with uneven terrain and desert sand being the dominant climate feature of the area, before their eyes, stand the imposing Roman fort that has been abandoned for centuries since the rise of gunpowder. The moat was dried and empty, the traps remain there as a reminder of what has happened to it in the past. Pits full of stakes and other booby traps like oil and fire pit remains there but has been emptied for safety reasons. The fort's door remains wide open for the tourists to enter the mostly undisturbed fortification that once embodied Latin's dominant and Pax Romana.
Logan and Earl both walked in with a nonchalant attitude knowing tourists are allowed in. The only issue bothering Logan now was the fact he was to dig up a grave from the past and see possible corpses. Earl didn't seem to have many other issues though. In fact as he walked in with Angie and Logan he could still joke around. "Okay so we are allowed in, I don't think we can touch valuable ancient stuff." Earl said. Logan raised a brow over t him and huffed out. "Yeah, But we kinda half to dig shooting up. Well that or do a puzzle. Pretty sure that's how this stuff had never been uncovered before." Logan said with Earl shrugging. "Oh of course. I'm pretty decent at puzzles. I had a Roarbics Cube when I was a kiddo myself. Loved the thing to pieces, but This should be no sweat." Earl said.
"Was that back in the 80s Earl?" Angie asked as she follows Earl into the fort to start looking for clues, they first arrived at the Praetorian Barracks where the houses with red tile roof were collecting dust, the condition of the desert thankfully preserve stone structures well, much better than the ones in Ewerope in fact. Angie looked around inside the Praetorian cabin, with her flashlight litting the place up, she found the beds and wooden racks to be in good order for the most part. She picked up an old worn out shield sporting a dark color on it with golden wings design cresting on the left and right side of the iron cap. On the top and bottom of the shield there were thunder rods protruding out of the cap. "This shield looks like it has seen some battles, but not against a sword, it was with the sand and dust." Angie observed the shield, rotating it around carefully to inspect its design pattern.
Earl saw the shield and picked it up. "Here lemme see. Dust and sand?" Earl said perplexed. An odd thought came to his mind. However, as he pondered on the thoughts of the soldiers fighting against a force of nature, or nature herself he began to ponder harder on the deities. Something made his heart jump. "Say. Since Anubis exists… You wouldn't think these guys met up with the god of chaos and the sands themselves" Earl sated with a chilling voice. Logan tilted his head having little knowledge of the dietes still. "Fighting against sand? What are you talking about?" Logan asked.
Angie flipped the shield around showing them signs of degradations, apparently this was because of sandstorms and rusting, natural occurences to say the least. She then let Logan held the shield and went to look around the barracks for anything else that might be of use. "This place doesn't seem to be threatening anyone at all, gotta say, the Romans built these to last." Said Angie as she exited the barracks now looking at the officer quarter. "Odd, there's no other tourists around here and none of the staffs are around at all." Said Angie, as her ears perked up and twitched around, trying to find any sounds and indication that the place is still in normal working condition. Even though the place is in opening hour, she doesn't see anyone coming in to enjoy the ruins.
Logan still examining the shield was too busy admiring the ancient artifact to notice the lack of mammals within the fortress. "I don't know if I should be touching this thing, but it looks cool." Logan commented, but Earl himself scratched his head looking around. "Yeah. This place is pretty dead today. What up with that? Do people not think history is cool anymore?" Earl asked sarcastically moving ahead of Angie. The way he moved in a confident manner suggested he was well into trespassing, and roaming he may go. Earl stopped in the room and looked back to the other two and made a confused shrug.
"No they don't...especially when you're a smuggler." Said Angie as she looked at the floor of the barracks entrance, she noticed a set of pawprints heading out of the place and the depth of those prints suggested that the crook was carrying something, a heavy object to him judging by the size of the footprints. "Logan, look at this...weasel footprints, looks like we have a smuggler heading out of the barrack from time to time. And where there's a smuggler, there's bound to be something of value that he found before heading to a market." Said Angie as she pointed Logan and Earl to the footprints on the ground tracing them to a nearby archive of the fort where records of the exiled Legion were kept and possibly some important notes regarding their precious cargoes. Logan and Earl would see that the archive was a medium sized rectangle structure built from stones, inside the place were shelves of books with leather cover. Each one were easily around 500 or more pages, clearly the place was in the fashion of the Bisontine archive. "Logan can you use your forensic software to trace his footprints and paw prints?" She asked him with her finger pointing to the darkened floor and the obscured tracks that she might not be able to pick up.
Seeing the footprints on the ground Logan took a knee to get lower to the ground to take evidence here. He zoomed his optics to get a better look of the print and sharpening the image of the print to the point he could make out creases and ridges that were left in the foot that made the prints. He nodded to Angie and smikred. "Yeah I can do that. Looks like we have a weasel on our hands." Logan sad. From his eyes a blue colored singular ray of light shot out and hit the footprint before the ray of light split into four separate beams. The beams seemed to be a projection of a grid pattern in a four by four array. It spun around the footprint while Logan's hud showed him various biological findings from the print. Earl behind the two scratched his beard waiting for anything to pop up on Logan's HUD.
As Logan's cybernetics aided him in his search, the police wolf soon come across what appeared to be a secret section of the archive. A walled off section disguised by a clever revolving door mechanism with a bookshelf to ample the believability of the camouflage. "There it is. Damn it! The smuggler got the scripture...or something related to it." Angie snarled when she saw that the pedestal where a book was supposed to be on was emptied. She could tell by the organization and layout of the room was meant to be used for a secret document and now it was stolen from the place. "If he stole it then he has to give it to someone, like an auction or something I'm willing to bet that they headed to the market of town." She picked up the satellite phone strapped on her belt and dial back to the museum of Anubis waiting for him to reply.
Thankfully for her and Logan along with Earl's sake, Anubis picked up the call from his office in the museum's second floor and replied to them in his usual gruff tone. "How's Catsablanca treating you?" He asked them, to which Angie reply with a calm but still urgent tone as she retrace the footprint out to the parade ground of the fort. "We found some leads to a Manuscript but have encountered a problem, a smuggler may have gotten to it before we do and now we're hunting it. I believe that there could be an auction of artifacts and items of the like in town." She informed him. This prompted Anubis to boot up his personalized Jackal Guards Laptop and access database from the Guards Nexus and trace the radio communication traffic of Catsablanca.
He browsed through the various phone calls and other around the city and its market, trying to pinpoint the location of an auction. "There it is, I found one. Address 345A Derb Ghallef Market of Catsablanca. It's a two stories pinkish tan building with a pair of elephant tusks decorating the front. I'll have the intel team forge some fake IDs for you to come in just hold up your phone and let the scanner at the entrance do the work and you'll be in it." Anubis instructed as he typed on the keyboard sending an order down to the intel specialists in the other section of the museum to forge a collection of fake IDs for Angie and her group.
"Thanks Anubis, we'll get there and see what we can find." Said Angie as she put the phone down on her belt before heading back out with Logan and Earl, she dialed up another Zuber Cab to pick them up by the fort's entrance then head off to the market with Logan and Earl to intercept the stolen scripture. Once they have arrived at the market, they will see that the place was bustling with mammals doing groceries, shopping for spices and exotic goods from all four corners of the world. It felt like a scene in a classic adventure movie but the world had changed so much that by now, the market's vibrant was the only thing left of the vintage past and the feel of adventure it once enjoyed. "Okay keep your eyes out, that building with tusks should be around here somewhere." Said Angie as she scanned the neighborhood for their destination.
Logan and Earl both nodded to angie hile they both acted as normal customers browsing through the various goods here. Or at least they tried to. Logan for one being cybernetic under his liquid metal disguise felt out of place in a more foreign country such as this. This was only made worse by the fact he was a cybernetic wolf in a less hightech land. "Yeah. I'll keep my optic- eyes out for them." Logan said under his breath keeping his cool.
Earl however looked less stiff here than the others. Having the least amount of gadgets and pockets on him he looked like an average tourist. Apart from which his experience with travels across the world made this almost like the average business trip his him. In fact despite the situation he managed to keep a slight smile and wave to the various shoppers and consumers in the area. "Place at least smells nicer. Maybe it's the spices. Phew. You guys would not believe the pits in Uganda." Earl said keeping his eyes out for the building. He kept his snout raised up while looking for what in his mind a picture of elephants tusks on two square shaped towers.
As they walked through the market Angie soon stopped her pacing and her attention fixed on a pinkish building, on the entrance were a pair of fake elephant tusks hanging in a sword crossed manner showing that the place was of prominent and important businesses. "Look, there it is!" She pointed them to the building and began to walk towards it slowly to see if Anubis's instructions hold true. Much to Logan's chagrin he would see that Angie being stopped by a pair of security guards at the front door, they were a pair of warthogs with imposing physiques to keep troublemakers away. "Hold it lady, no pass unless you have ID." Said the one on the right, he seemed to have a scar on his right eye with a blue arm brand on his right arm. "Oh yes, we have IDs for the event here…" Said Angie as she hesitantly pulled up her phone and let the guard scanned the ID of her displayed on the screen. The scanner was apparently a laser scanner similar to a barcode scanner in stores. There, she saw that the scanner blinked green denoting her ID was good enough to enter. "Proceed." Said the Guard to the left as she ventured forward, then came Logan and Earl's turns to work their own IDs. "You don't look like the type to go to auctions." Said the warthog on the right as he leered at Logan suspiciously trying to see if he was actually the right type of person to be there. This worried Angie.
However, Earl saw this as well and stepped forwards for Logan's sake. He cleared his throat out and looked to the warthog with his own glare. "Ah. He's with me don't worry. Just a... Little adventure I take the kid on." Earl said as he raised his own I.D. "Of course I'm more for these events. I already got a pocket full of cigars to smoke while some of the goods are displayed up on that stage." Earl said. He looked to Angie and winked to her having this covered.
Logan sighed grateful he didn't need to come up with his own excuse. "Thank god for uncles…" Logan said as he put his own I.D. up. "So uh… Smokings allowed right? Maybe some wine? Snacks?" Logan said awkwardly as he tried to keep us with Earl's much looser personality. He made it look to easy.
"Just get in there and don't fuss it up." Said the guards as they ushered the two wolves up to join Angie. She sighed out in relief as they walked into the premises for the auction to occur, on her hand, Angie was viewing a text message Anubis sent to her telling them to enter room A34, the password for it was "Corsair" for some reasons. The auction there has an impressive list of items waiting to be sold ranging from possessions of the Moorish Sultans like chairs, crowns and work of arts to the more mundane looking but no less valuable such as the recent addition of a Scripture dating back to Bisontine time. "Anubis works great with intel teams. For some reasons I have a feeling he'll bankroll us getting that Scripture back." Said Angie as they entered room A34. With one word of "Corsair" escaping Angie's mouth, the door swung inward by a tall and imposing stallion.
They came inside and saw a room of smartly dressed rich mammals sitting around with their attention beamed up at the stage in front of them where the items were being displayed. Angie and her companions sat down by the rear of the crowd to avoid drawing attention from them while looking up at the displays to see if the scripture was there for the taking. But while sitting there, she felt her shoulder was being touched by someone, a pair of hooves by the feeling of it and she looked behind to see a rather handsome but arrogantly over dressed equine standing behind her. A horse with grey hair and equally greyed mane, he was apparently around her age as well and judging by the flirty look on his face, he knew her. "Well look what the cat drags get here. I always wonder where have you been Angie darling." Said the horse in a thick British accent as he looked at her in the eyes. "Really Flynn? I hope that time you got caught trying to steal a trophy would have taught you something." Said Angie with a slight growl.
"Like what? Hiring a better team? Or better exit plans? Anyway you know what? I don't care, I'm just here to get some expensive items to marry you with and you know what? You should have ditched that cop of a boyfriend of yours. Is he here by any chances?" Flynn arrogantly asked while looking around to see if Logan was nearby, failing to notice how close Angie's boyfriend was, though they have never met before, but Logan could tell right away that the equine was Angie's rival in college and perhaps in some respects, a more laid back and arrogant individual.
As such the comment the equine's comment didn't go over too well in Logan's head. In fact Logan looked up to the horse with a more offended expression. One with a frown judging Flynn to see if he could make a snarky judgmental comment himself. However, Logan just sighed rather dismissed by the situation and pouted silently. "Well i guess it's nice to meet you as well. Or it would be if you don't just slam me in front of my uncle and girlfriend…" Logan stated remaining calm. He directed his question to Angie however trusting his mind with her answers more than Flynn's. "Who is this guy anyways, and what gives? I never even met his preppy ass before…" Logan asked.
Flynn of course took a step back seeing Logan raising his voice in a sudden, the equine looked obviously scared and frightened by the fact that he was facing Angie's boyfriend of all places and they were going to give him a bad time in the auction of worse, Logan might even arrest him for something. "Ooooookkkkaaaayyyy...this is awkward...sorry mate I didn't…" He stuttered and tried to come up with a solution for his inconvenience. Angie quickly took control of the narrative and fill in everything that Logan need to know about him. "This is Flynn, Flynn R. Quintilius Hooverton the Third Esquire. Son of the Earl of Herdington. I met this guy in College and he was my rival and a thief. He didn't take his courses seriously and the only reason he piggyback riding on the Campus was to help him know which valuable treasure to plunder." Said Angie as Flynn sweat and grew increasingly skittish seeing that he was being exposed by Angie for his rather petty and low brow type of character.
"Alright listen I'm just going over there…" Said Flynn as he slipped away to a more distant corner of the room and held up his number to try and purchase whatever that he might be interested in. It was then that the auction began with the meerkat in Tuxedo came to the podium of the room and start the bidding. The bidding was tight with all sorts of prices being pushed by the bidders trying their best to buy whatever they want. First a bed of the Sultan of the Cordoba Caliphate found in Granada, then came a wall painting of the Romammal Legions fighting an army of Mauretanian rebels. But all of the flashier objects were left to fly off to the paws and hooves of other rich mammals. Leaving Angie with the sight of the scripture on display.
"Now comes the scripture of the Exiled Legion. Recovered from the Fort on the hill near the city itself. We start our bid at the price of $50000. Does anyone want to go higher?" The meerkat asked and this prompted Angie to raise her number, making the price going higher to $55000. "Does anyone want to go higher than that?" The meerkat asked, now noticing Flynn standing up with his own number raised showing that he was raising the price they were going to barter. "$65000. In cash!" He declared. Already the price was punched up by ten folds before Angie could even do something about it. But she wasn't going home empty handed, not while having Anubis's backing, she boldly declare her own price that can flip Logan and Earl off their seats. "$10 Million!" She cried out in a sudden, causing the entire room to eye her in awe not knowing if she was joking or not. But the number alone got one of the female participant to faint in shock. "10 million going once. Going twice. And sold to the lady in the back!" Declared the meerkat as he slammed his hammer on the podium sealing the deal.
Flynn of course was stirred by the defeat he just suffered, he walked up to Angie with a slightly angered face and his hooves were cracking out but not to fight her. "That was one helluva stunt you just pulled hun. Hope your boyfriend doesn't arrest you for not working up the cash." Said Flynn in a challenging manner towards Angie as he snickered her and walked out of the room. Before he left for good, he glanced back at her almost as if to show off his masculine stature and backside. "By the way, if you need money, just come to me and I'll shower you with gold." Said the horse before he walked out of the room thinking that she can't quite pay for the Scripture on her own.
Logan bore his teeth seeing that Flynn was still challenging him even by whose body was more well build. Disgusted by this Logan kept his tongue out of his mouth, and kept his mind clear of any thoughts of Angie together with Flynn. Even perverse ones that just made his headache. However, his head was already aching and in total shock by the offer Angie made. It made his heart nearly faint knowing she had spent a life's worth of money in one swoop. He looked at her and made a weak smile. "Uhhh… Hey Angie. You wouldn't happen to have a very wealthy relative do you? Like an aunty, or something because I don't think I'm going to get help from mine with that…" Loan said looking abk to Earl. He was already smoking a cigar to cope with what just took place. "Who ever the hell that horse guy was he needs an ass kicking…" Earl grumbled.
Angie however nervously picked up her satellite phone and raised Anubis on the horn to call him for assistance. "Uhh...Anubis...I hope you take bad news well because...I just bought a Scripture we need. For $10 million, please tell me that you're not going to let me borrow your credit card." She said in a petrified tone sounding horrified by what she had done within the space of an hour of bidding.
She expected Anubis to slam her for the expenses but instead, she heard him talking calmly as if this was no major expenses for him. "Don't worry about it, I got 10 million transferred to your account ready to use. Did you know that gold produced in Kemet from thousands of years ago worth more today when adjusted to inflation and such?" He asked her while wiring the money to her account remotely from his office. This prompted Angie to raise her head up slightly when she heard this. "Oh right. Of course any products made in the past will become a lot more expensive when adjusted to inflation and take into account the production method of the time as well as related costs. Right?" She asked one last time as the young archaeologist wolf stood up from her seat.
"Precisely, since Kemet used to have gold mine in Nubia, the Jackal Guards have access to a rather abundant supply of gold. Near limitless funding that is, but we learned not to rely on it for obvious reasons. Get the scripture and get back quick, I have a feeling that this horse rival of yours may not let you go easily." Said Anubis as he hung up the phone. Angie looked back to Logan and Earl and nodded to them, showing that they were in the clear before helping Logan up with Earl to prepare for their departure.
They obtained the scripture after paying the bill and left the premises, Flynn himself saw that Angie was leaving with the scripture in hand from the second floor frowned seeing that somehow he was losing her by the minutes, he quickly grabbed his phone and dialed his accomplices for assistance. "Cloey, we may have a problem. Yes that's right...we'll need to intercept them, the marketplace...leave arctic wolf alone, she's mine. Oh no don't you start that with me, of course she's into me, I'm gorgeous. Anyway just get down here." He hung up the phone and went out to get ready for what was going to happen at the market. Angie was now walking out of the market with Logan and Earl following her, she held the scripture in her paws to keep it safe. The white wolf looked around for any signs of pickpockets and other scams that might come at her, she held the scripture in front of her to prevent any theft of it might occur. "We're not out of the woods just yet." Said Angie as she walked towards the entrance of the market.
Logan and Earl boh looked to the entrance of the market and knew many of the mammals there could have more malicious intents. Mainly Earl feeling the urge to have a hand ready to grab his revelover at a moment's notice. In fact he had his right hand have his fingers much like an old west shootout. Even more damning was the fact he still had a cigar in mouth. "Don't worry kids. I got you. I don't think scammers will enjoy a possible bullet in their lungs." Earl said sternly.
Logan however seemed to still have a headache as his pained face said. However, his mind was no longer on the fact he had to help pay ten million dollars. Instead he thought more on the fact he suddenly received the money all thanks to a kind deity. "Okay. He's a god. And he's a machine.. Like me. Divine intervention.. Deus Ex Machina." Logan said. He looked back up at Angie and attempted to smile. "So. Now that we are millionaires what do we even do with the money? I never figured this job I have would earn me that much. All I wanted wa to protect and serve." Logan said with a lighthearted tone.
Angie laughed out thinking about the money that was in their accounts by this point of time. Her cautious mind was telling her to save it while her more adventurous heart was urging her to spend them and travel the world. "Trust funds I guess. Honestly we aren't any good at businesses so we might as well just put them all into trust funds and maybe we'll be able to use it sometimes in the future." Said Angie as they were walking out of the market waiting for a cab to pick them up. It was at that moment however that Logan would be called by Anubis, the jackal deity sounded rather urgent and even apparently troubled by some sort of impending danger. "Logan, I have multiple hostiles heading towards your location! Hostile SUVs and armed tangoes bearing down on you. ETA 4 minutes!" He scowled with his eyes fixed on the real time map of the city, the navy blue monitor show flashing blips of red dots converging on the market ready with Angie, Logan and Earl marked in sapphire blue.
"Oh shit!" Logan shouted. When he looked back he saw thankfully Earl had that determined fight ready face. Earl looked down and saw Logan hunched down in a combat ready look. One he's seen before when he occasionally went to see Logan train with his co workers on the ZPD training ground. Even then Logan was determined to act out with an aggressive force just as Earl recalled.
Logan back then was quick on his feet and could easily drive a powerful tackle into his team. Seeing this now Earl didn't need to question the urge to pull the revolver out of his shirt and hold it low. He kept his finger off of the trigger of course for his own gun safety training, but he looked around for hostiles. "I know that look. Yah got something." Earl said pointing out Logan's body language. Logan then looked to Angie and glared fiercely they were about to have some undesired attention. To make his point the liquid metal on his leg pulled away, and turned back into a lustrous silver color while also revealing the shiny gloss red of his thigh armor. The thigh compartment then flipped open allowing Logan to pull his own pistol. "Stay sharp. Anubis just gave the word of hostiles." Logan said keeping his eyes open.
Angie nodded to him as she saw enemy SUVs, all black with heavily tinted glasses, there were also some jeeps following them to assist with armed Mammals dismounting their vehicles. They armed themselves with a collection of vintage Assault Rifles and shotgun and pistols, they fanned out around the entrance and trained their sights on Angie and Logan first and foremost. Seeing this, the crowds began to panic and ran for cover, Angie of course was smart enough to drag Logan and Earl along into some places to hide while the gunmen began to move in shooting up the market stalls to stop their targets from running away. Bullets whist passed them, blowing up baskets and boxes with the gunmen moving in cocking their weapons aiming for the Coffee shop the trio were hiding in. Angie kicked down a table and used it as cover for her and Earl, she then placed the scripture inside the sack and pulled out her pistol and cocked it for combat.
"Move in! Secure the targets!" One of the men shouted, their point man, a lanky armadillo holding a pistol went inside the coffee shop, followed by a squad of heavily armed predators and prey all dressed in black brandishing gas mask and helmets on them. Angie took the first shot off by firing at the chandelier above their heads, dropping it down on 4 of them in one go. "Now!" She shouted and took her shots at the other two that were at the entrance of the coffee shop.
Logan got himself out of cover and fired his pistol towards the entrance. Knowing there was a truck with a gun mounted he needed to keep himself low and into cover taking potshots and blindfired shot towards the attackers. "This would be so much easier if i had an LMG!" Logan shouted while the heat of battle made his intensified emotions grow. Each time his pistol fired it made a loud, ear piercing popping noise while the bullet flew through the air before penetrating enemy armor and flesh. Each time he did this did the same before he needed to reload.
Earl then got up with only six bullets in his gun's chamber. "Yeah I'd like to see you try and conceal an LMG. Maybe that nanite crap can make one transform into a lunchbox!" Earl joked. However with his gun being a much larger weapon and having a much higher calibur he had to hold it in both of his hand before pulling the trigger creating a much louder bang than Logan's pistol. The gun being more powerful fired bullets into the center masses of Earl's targeted assailants and threw them back while cracking bone snaps rupturing organs.
"We need to get out of here maybe one of their jeeps would do!" Said Angie as she crawled on the ground towards to the entrance of the coffee shop. She then made a cover dash towards the wall of it, seeing that the gunmen outside were still covering most of the entrances and police of the city was closing in on the shootout to disarm the situation. The resulting firefight was a confusing three ways battle between the authority, the gunmen and Angie's team. "Alright...we'll need to move to the East gate, there's bound to be some vehicles there we can grab. Ready? Set...go!"
She then ran out making a beam towards the wall near the corner leading to the entrance of the East gates. She was intercepted by a tiger who leapt on her back trying to pin her down, he gripped her neck trying to choke her in the process. "Not this chick you're not!" She quickly rammed him into a pillar to stun him first before quickly make a roundhouse kick around his waist, knocking him down and kicked his chin with her right foot, knocking him out. "Come on guys! We need to get out of here now!" Said Angie as she soon saw a jeep rammed through the East Gates and skirted to a halt at the center of the open air market square. The gunmen disembarked from the vehicle with their gunner still on the turret aiming his weapon at Logan and Earl. They fired their weapon at the police officer wolf first trying to down him as they figured he might be the biggest threat to them for the moment.
Within the intense moment of combat Logan's liquid metal turned a lustrous chroma and sheen away back under his armor platings and synthetic flesh. He made quick slide dashed to the left and followed by the right to keep himself clear of bullets, and fire. He let out a breath of air from his synthetic lungs with each dash as he could feel his muscles burn each time. He didn't bother to shoot back at the hostiles since it would just make his body more prone than before of getting filled with bullets. He saw Earl somehow had made it into the passenger side seat of the jeep while Logan himself jumped into the air in a stunning leap before his paws landed on the jeep's chassis. Logan then made an evil grin while he got the Jeep's main gun ready. "Alright! Finally We get some better weapons on our side." Logan exclaimed. Of course Earl looked at his gun and then the machine gun Logan had mounted onto the jeep and huffed. "What wrong with the revolver?" Earl asked.
Angie quickly ran into the jeep and shot off a few rounds at some of the roaming gunmen around the market as they try to gun them down, "Time to leave then!" She sat down on the driver's seat and fired off the engine of the vehicle and kept her head down in a brace for impact manner. She then put the vehicle in reverse and moved the vehicle's nose back to the East gates before putting it in drive and hit the gas. She launched the vehicle out of the East Gate flying out of the market and landed on the streets. The vehicle skirted around on the streets for a moment before Angie stepped on the gas and drove off faster out of the Latin Quarter of Catsablanca. The gunmen weren't giving up, they quickly dispatched three more SUVs to hunt them down with their shooters popping up from the rooftops with their own tri-barrels miniguns aiming at them, other shooters inside the vehicles rolled down the windows and fired on the jeep.
Logan pivoted the jeep's gun behind the jeep itself and saw immediately they were being chased by dark colored armored vehicles. He grit his teeth together and shook his head to the pursuers. As he placed his finger on the triggers he took only a slight quick scan of all of the attackers noting the overkill they intended to display. "Seriously they are going full gang gangster on us by shooting out of the windows! Was it not enough they had guns on top!?" Logan questioned right as he started to shoot at the enemy vehicles on their hoods.
Earl for that moment took his own initiative to give Angie some breathing room away from the hostiles by unbuckling himself and unrolling the window so he could shoot as well. He got his upper torso out of the window and rotated his body so he could point back at the incoming hostiles while he aimed and fired his revolver in loud shots towards the gunner of the jeeps. "I don't mean to sound cynical, but they ain't going to just run out of gas! They'll chase us all the way through the desert if they want! Angie drive like you're drunk! As in erratic and dangerous!" Earl shouted.
"I hope we won't end up in Mooroccan prison for this!" Angie gunned her car forward with her feet on the gas pushing the vehicle towards the busy roads ahead. She then proceeded to bank left and right erratically to throw off their pursuers. She first took a mad turn into a city park where the rolling hills and trees kept them from being too easy of a target. The jeep jink around and each time it did, Logan's aim was thrown off, and his HUD must recalibrate its targeting to compensate for the movements and various other factors. As she did so, one of the SUVs pursuing them made a wrong turn and fell into a pond, throwing it off the chase. "One down 2 to go. Hang on, we're backing into the streets now!" Said Angie as she spun the tires around to steady the vehicle's steering as the trio ended back on the busy streets once again. "Logan, I see an oil tanker ahead watch your fire around it!" Angie shouted out as she zig zagged the car around the oil tanker trying to use its silhouette and chassis to dodge the pursuers.
The oil tanker provided them all with optimal cover for dodging the pursuing vehicles, but Logan hesitantly took fire again keeping the bullet fire away from the tanker. Some of the images that went through his head of course were him screaming up and causing one of the bullets spark off of the hull of the tanker resulting in a massive explosion. Logan gulped nervously and tried to keep his arms more stead. "Why do you need to pressure me like this now?..." Logan said, but after saying this he turned his attention back to the pursuing vehicles. "Hey woah! What if they shoot the damn thing?" Logan asked. Earl slowly got back into the truck and covered his ears while his canine teeth bit the butt of his cigar. "Well then I guess fire in the friggin' hole! How good is their aim? Or smarts?" Earl sasked.
Angie sighed out in relief seeing that their pursuers have been warded off for the time being, she then drove them back to the private club to get their bags packed. She went inside with her companions, finding the owner of the club, Pauly, was already having a drink and preparing his club for opening hour along with the casino of the place ready for various guests that will come to the place during late night hours. "So what's the rush this time?" He asked tersely as usual taking a sip from his Beardeaux wine glass before looking at the direction of his guests. "We got what we came for, we'll leave soon, probably tonight." Said Angie as she entered the main area of the bar. "What about you Logan? Earl? Should we leave that soon or we stay for a day longer to get ready first?" Asked Angie.
"I think we leave as soon as possible. Seriously. I saw how those guys came in shooting the place up. I really don't want to stay if that's the case." Logan said as he recalled the mercenaries coming in and shooting near a civilian populated populace. Logan sat down in the club's many seats nd let off a sigh of relief slowly after the vicious fight and being near a deathly massive explosion should the situation not have played out in their favor.
Earl standing there in the club nodded, and sat down himself yawning. "You know I can only take so much of kicking ass, but not taking names. Everyone of those guys were hiding their faces behind something. So we should probably leave. As Logan said since I don't want this fancy club being shot to shit." Earl stated.
Pauly nodded to them both as he took another sip from his glass of Beardeaux trying to keep his mind sober in the midst of widespread confusion and panic around the city. "Fair enough, listen you guys better pack your bags and leave as soon as possible. I can't get a cab to you since it might get pulled over. But I'm willing to let you borrow my personal car, if it got destroyed, just leave a note for me about how." He instructed and drank the entire glass of Beardeaux licking his lips. Angie nodded to him and went upstairs and began to pack her bags with Logan and Earl, they had to work fast and put as much organization and compactness as possible into their luggage seeing that they have no time to stay and enjoy the city anymore now that the police would put the whole town into lockdown. "Earl, I have a feeling the cops will put up wanted posters of anyone they ID at the shootout, when we're on the road put on the shaders to hide our faces." Said Angie as she put her bag on the bed ready to haul it on her back.
With the option of disguise in mind Earl then put his pair of aviator shade on his face from his pocket. It was a lucky break for him at least since he usually wore them while flying or if he's feeling in a more casual mood. "I got you covered. Well me at least. These are the only shades I have with me right now. Cost me a hundred mackers and I ain't keen on getting them busted." Earl said as he adjusted the glasses on his face. He smirked though and crossed his arms. "I do look pretty good with em though. When Logan was a kid he said, and I quote, 'you look like mean robot man.' Yeah he watched some shows and films he prolly shouldn't have at that age." Earl said while Logan blushed embarrassed part of his childhood was just revealed. "What ever. Wolfinator was like my first R rated film." Logan explained.
"But hey at least the first one was the good one, along with the sequel but everything else...I'd call them the Seleucids Empire of movies." Said Angie as she slung the backpack around her back and began to exit the room with Logan and Earl, she put on a hat to protect her identity and tied a mask around her muzzle and chin not only to protect her fur and torso from the sun and heat but also from the authority's surveillance of the area. The trio went into the garage of the club owner and he handed them the key to his car. A classic vintage car from the 1940s, a black 6 seaters with a curvy roof and chassis, the tires sported the signature white color hubcaps on them. "Well at least it won't be the vehicle that the authority look for." Said Angie as she entered the vehicle and closed the door behind the driver's seat with Logan sitting next to her while Earl himself was in the driver's seat. "Good bye for now Mr. Whiskerton." Angie bidded as he blew a friendly goodbye kiss to them from his paw. "Here's looking at you kid, we'll always have Purris." Said Pauly as he watched the group drove away from the private club with the sun setting on the horizon of Catsablanca.
Out on the streets, the police force have increased their patrol units and other response units to hunt down the perpetrators behind the shootout at the market. The authority ran various facial facial recognition programs to identify the culprits as soon as they can. So far they can only identify the unmasked trio while then the shooters had to be interrogated one by one. The process was painfully slow and the entire city's law enforcement completely passive in the process unable to actively identify and apprehend suspects. In the lull of the moment, Flynn was off somewhere else in a different part of town meeting with his handler and his accomplice Cloey. His handler however, was less than livid when found that the thief was unable to obtain the Scripture. "Fool! I told you to get to the auction and buy the scripture! How can you have failed me despite the money and backings I've granted you!?" The weasel handler said with a raspy voice, it sounded like nails on a chalkboard as he berated the inability of the stallion to achieve his goal.
"Look here now, I tried my best...it's just that the girl call a bid higher than anyone can afford in that room. Alright?" The stallion held up his hooves in front of the weasel in heavy combat suit and try to defend himself from the wrath of the cultist leader. "Now look here we can still pursue them using other clues to work with so how about you give me the benefit of a doubt and let me work this plan. Shall we? Cloey what do you think of this? Is it too dumb for us to just let them do MOST of the hard work for us? Hm?" He asked his accomplice Cloey, she was a doe wearing a red T-shirt with a green leaf on the front of the shirt, she wore a pair of khaki pants with a bracelet made of jade on her right hand.
"I don't see why not. Once they do all the work for us then we can slip in and do our thing." Cloey said. She placed a hand on her hip and narked at the two of them before laughing to herself on the situation in front of her. "Never thought I'd see a muscular horse cowering to a weasel though. No worries. As long as we come in at a more vulnerable time, and corner them. I think we got ourselves some leverage against them all." Cloey stated
"See? We can totally win this but really what's the point of your pursuit with the Paw of Midas anyways?" Asked the equine as he sat down on a chair looking at the weasel who then stood up and brood in the room. The weasel grabbed a bottle of wine and began to sip it without a glass in his way to assist him.
"It is simple you stupido farm animal. I, El Capitan of La Conquista of the New World, was the first to discover the Paw of Midas and the mysteries of the Eitr found in its burial place! I drank the Eitr to see what it was and now cursed to long lives while the world fall to the clutches of the weak, impure and impious forces that corrupt the Vatican and the Crown of Spain!" Said the weasel as he began to rant much to Cloey's chagrin, she would roll her eyes hearing a disgustingly old mammal elaborating his motivations. "With the Paw of Midas, I shall be able to continue my struggles to restore the throne of Spain to its pious path! And with it, I shall finally bring the world the eternal revelation of the Lord!" He then coughed out when he hit the high note of his ranting showing signs of madness and other sorts of mania plaguing his mind.
"Alright so this is interesting and all but what of the Eitr?" The equine asked El Capitán Héctor González De Granada. The weasel would then toss down an old depiction of what appeared to be a depiction of Jormungandr swimming the oceans of Midgard battling his opposite Kukulkan in the Yucatan Peninsula to gain dominance of the mortals, with every blows, the liquid of life Eitr fell down on Earth creating life and embedded itself into the depth of the Earth to sustain life. It would seem that Jormungandr was showing signs of active aggression towards the world around it. "Ooookay then...maybe I'll leave it to you and don't ask the question again." Said Flynn as he sat down next to Cloey feeling frightened and genuinely frightened by the weasel's aggressive tendencies, he kissed Cloey's left hoof and up to her cheek and began to act like a casanova towards her. "Cloey darling...am I gorgeous to the eyes or what? Please tell me that I am truly the most charming stallion you've ever seen in the world." He begged her while crooning into her ears.
Cloey of course rolled her eyes, but made a sarcastic smirk to him playing and teasing him. Her thoughts thought he was being overly charismatic, but she went along regardless in her own way. "Well that guy your Ex was with was pretty alright too. Kinda weird looking, but i don't think I'll be able to date a cop without them cuffing me." She leaned in and kissed his cheek back, but held her restraint knowing he was off. "I'm not sure if I'm too into the mood though. Not with our great commander being insane and, well, talking as if he's undead." She laughed of course hearing El Capitan's rants, but never took any of them seriously. Not with how crazy he seemed. "I don't know what you're so scared of. It's all myth, and he's probably taken too many narcotics in his younger years. He might be hallucinating Flynn. Let's face it tough. We're here for the riches. Don't forget that. Not some supposed life juice." She said sternly.
"Right...I'll keep that in mind. The riches that is." He sarcastically reply and sat down next to her, letting the night came to past, meanwhile, Angie and her companions have finally reached the airport after a long journey, they then went to the hangar and load up their luggage on Earl's aircraft ready to depart from the country. As they were doing so, a call reached Logan's cyber coms. It was from Anubis utilizing his laptop's specialized communication network with the robots of the Jackal Guards.
"Logan listen, I'm heading out to the colony of Pergamon right now with Kukulkan to meet up with the Hellenic Pantheon there, I'll marked the location for you to link up. Tell your uncle and Angie to meet me there, Kuku and I will be staying at an old Greek palace by the seaside." Said Anubis over the coms, on Logan's HUD he would see Anubis's call as a video call similar to that of Skype. Then on his digital display of a world map, he would see that Anubis marked a settlement on the coast of Turkey but the deity seemed to be fond of calling it by the ancient names, tagged along with it were coordinates Logan can display to Earl and help his navigation.
On his map the selected location gave something for Logan to memorize easier. Still he thought on why Anubis prefered to use old ancient names to refer to locations as they were clearly named different in modern times. Something even Logan remembers learning about when in geography class. He got his luggage on board quickly after the call, and nodded on his chat with Anubis using an avatar of his robotic cyberself to represent himself. "You got it. I'll go tell him now. Not sure what he'll think." Logan said as he moved to the cockpit of the plane.
At the cockpit currently Earl had both of his feet kicked up on his plane's console just over the control wheel. He was again smoking a cigar before he need to take off, but now he was ready an old playhound magaze. Of course he was interrupted by Logan causing Earl to swiftly put the magazine away. "Uh-uh-uh. Nothin'. Just guns. And booze. Uh. Your friend Canyon recommended the magazine." Earl said defending himself. Logan shook his head though and thought of what Anubis said. He forgot how to share information that was in his mind until just the thought alone caused his optics to project a hologram of Earth with a red "X" over the coast of Turkey. "Oh that's how that works then. So we need to take a detour Anubis said. Pergamon he said. He's having a meeting with other deities there for some reason." Logan said shrugging. "So we're goin' to Turkey?" Earl asked.
Anubis nodded to them both from the video call on Logan's line. "Precisely. Kukulkan and I will set up some markings for you guys to see, Angie would be the first to recognize them so she'll let you know. Good luck and may Ganesha blessed you all." The jackal deity then ended the call as he and Kukulkan flew off to the rally point, Angie herself saw the red marking and mumbled to Logan taking note of the development. "Well at least we're on track towards the origin of the Myth." Said Angie as she then sat down and buckle up her seat belt with Logan next to her. Earl's engines then sputtered to life as the plan roll off the hangar out to the runway, there, the aircraft took off from the runway flying into the sky and out of Catsablanca and fly off to the coast of Turkey, their journey was inching one step closer to the point where it all started.